Ten area wrestlers remain alive in the championship brackets of their divisions after Day 1 of the WMass Division III Wrestling tournament at Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield on Friday.
Day 2 of the tournament gets underway this morning at 10 a.m. and continues throughout the day. The finals are set to take place late in the afternoon.
The area will have a finalist at 120 pounds, thanks to a pair of semifinalists who’ll face off this morning. Athol High School’s Merrick Decker made short order of Mohawk Trail Regional High School’s Jaden Moore (21 seconds) and Dean Technical High School’s Jorge Jimenez (54 seconds) in his first two bouts of the tournament to advance to the semifinals, where he’ll face Franklin Technical High School’s Colin Pettis, who pinned Mt. Greylock Regional High School’s Darren Pelletier (1:57) and Granby High School’s Jack Kent (1:45).
Athol High School has four wrestlers still alive, including Decker. Ryan White beat Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical School’s Ryan Bullock (36 seconds) and Dean Tech’s Judeh Johnson (3:39) in his two Friday matches to advance to the semifinals at 132. White will face Hampden Charter School’s Omar Velez today. Chris Waslaske is also alive for the Red Raiders at 170 after he beat South Hadley High School’s Jeremy Rodriguez in 55 seconds and won a 17-0 decision over Taconic High School’s Tyler Killbary. Waslaske will face Southwick-Tolland Regional High School’s Connor Stevens in the semifinals. The fourth and final semifinalist for Athol is 182-pounder Trevor Mousseau, who won a pair of Day 1 decisions, taking an 8-1 win over Frontier Regional School’s Joey Hildreth in the opener before topping Sabis International Charter School’s Kyle Pingree, 10-2, in the quarters. Mousseau will face top-seeded Clayton Yanosky of Granby in the semis.
Frontier Regional School’s Connor Pettis advanced to the semifinals at 126. Pettis opened the day with a pin in 5:10 over Mt. Everett Regional High School’s Charles Kerzner and then topped Monument Mountain Regional High School’s Curt Wilton in 1:36. Pettis will face Khalil Khasimov of Hampden Charter School in the semifinals. Another Frontier wrestler also qualified for the semifinals at 138 pounds as Josiah Murry defeated Hampden Charter’s Nathan Hogan in 49 seconds in the opening round, then beat Athol’s Joe Gray in 3:33 in the quarterfinals. Murry will take on Southwick’s Eddie Martinez today. The third and final Frontier semifinalist is 195-pounder Miguel Olvera-Aguilera, who got a first-round bye before pinning Pathfinder’s Alex Misenagimer in 4:32 in the quarters. He will face top-seeded Shamal Schoonmaker of Monument Mountain in the semis.
Mahar Regional School has a semifinalist in Miller Richardson, who won a pair of matches at 145. Richardson opened the tournament with a pin in 4:18 over Granby’s Phil Roberts, then beat Dean Tech’s Kevin Higgins in 2:44 in the quarterfinals. Richardson will face top-seeded Nate Cormier from Monument Mountain in today’s semifinal.
Franklin Tech’s Spencer Telega also qualified for the semifinals at 160 pounds. Telega beat Southwick’s Josh Sylva in 3:30 in his opener, then edged Athol’s Dylan Castine by decision (4-2) in the quarterfinals. Telega will face DJ Willard from Hampden Charter in the semifinals.
There are also plenty of other local wrestlers still alive in the consolation bracket of the double elimination tournament.